The Fog Knows Their Names
Isaac froze mid-step, his breath catching.
“Shh. I heard something,” he whispered. “If it’s that crow… I don’t want it to find me. I don’t even want to imagine what it would do to me…”
Nicky shifted nervously, hugging his arms.
“That’s his name,” Nicky murmured. “I met him once. It was… terrifying.”
A harsh scrape echoed through the undergrowth — metal against dirt.
Nicky instantly tensed, panic surging through him. His breathing quickened, hands trembling.
Isaac reacted fast — he stepped closer and gently took Nicky’s hands, holding them firmly but carefully.
“Hey, hey… look at me,” Isaac said softly. “Breathe. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
The scraping continued somewhere in the fog.
Nicky whispered, voice shaking:
“No… not again…” That sound… the shovel.”
He swallowed hard. “Mr. Peterson. He was in prison. How did he get out?”
Isaac frowned, still keeping his hands around Nicky’s to ground him.
“Yes,” Nicky breathed. “He’s my neighbor. Across the street. And he’s looking for me. I don’t want to go back to the basement.”
“The vandals held me in a basement too…” he admitted quietly. “I know what it feels like.”
The forest around them seemed to grow colder. The mist thickened, curling between the trees like living smoke.
…And neither of them realized
that Theodore and the Guest were already standing right behind them — silent, unmoving, hidden in the shifting shadows of the fog.
Nicky squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to steady his breathing.
“It’s… it’s probably just my imagination,” he whispered, almost convincing himself. “Yeah. Just… just the forest. That’s all.”
Isaac didn’t believe that for a second, but he didn’t argue.
“We should go,” he said quietly but firmly. “Now. Somewhere safer. Before anything else finds us.”
Nicky nodded, still shaken, and the two of them slipped deeper into the fog — unaware of the figures observing them from behind the trees.
(I decided to combine the usual hello neighbor with the third part. I think the characters suit each other. Especially since they were both held captive in the basement.)
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